If you have a car with OnStar but don’t use the subscription, this one might be for you. If you can solder a serial cable, then you can jack into your GM OnStar system and run GPS diagnostic software or switch the thing to NMEA mode so you can use it with your very own GPS mapping software along with your in-car PC. We are all for taking control of our own technology.

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In an effort to get more people interested in their Portable Media Centers, Microsoft has launched a new service that will let people download some TV shows so that they may transfer them to portable media players and some advanced cell phones. MSN Video Downloads has launched with a price tag of $19.95-a-year and includes sports highlights, some Fox Sports shows, news headlines from MSNBC.com and children programming from Cookie Jar Entertainment. Seems like a nice concept, although with the right tools and some quick Internet searches, anyone can download and convert their favorite shows without having to pay for this service using popular P2P software.

The 19-year old that created the 2003 W32.Blaster-B worm will not have to pay Microsoft almost half a million for the damages he caused after all. Instead, Microsoft has agreed to let the teen pay off his debt by performing 225 hours of community service. According to the court document filed, the community service cannot involve computers or the Internet. The teen had already been sentenced to 18 months in prison and has to do 100 hours of community service for creating the worm that led to tens of thousands of infected computers. Maybe now he can do something constructive with his time instead of thinking up ways to cause havoc and cause many companies a lot of money trying to fix the mess – not to mention the head aches and stress IT personnel had to endure because of the attacks.

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USA Today says, “Rarely is an invention so unique, so visceral and so simple that in 15 seconds most people who experience it realize it could alter everyday life.” I have yet to experience this HSS (Hypersonic Sound), but it does sound truly incredible. American Technology Corp (ATC) has given a demonstration of HSS in it’s back parking lot and it’s being said that this invention does for sound what the laser did for light. Imagine standing 100 yards away from someone and they point this device at you, which allows you to perfectly hear either what the person is saying or any pre-recorded material being broadcast. You step out of the line-of-sight and hear nothing. Step back in and you hear it perfectly again. Someone else could hear something completely separate in a different line-of-sight sent from an additional source. Interesting technology with some profound uses in safety, criminal justice, medicine, automotives, and sound systems. This is one that we’re likely to hear lots more about, as in 2002 Popular Science magazine awarded HSS the grand prize for inventions. The Segway personal transporter took second.

An incredible invention for the use of technology for quadriplegics has been developed by Cynerkinetics Neurotechnology Systems. BrainGate aims to make computing a whole lot easier for those who are unable to use a keyboard and mouse. Having the hardware installed consists of implanting a silicon chip where the motor functions of the brain are, and drilling a hole in your skull for the “plug” for the chip-computer interface. This will allow quadriplegics to email, surf and play video games just by thinking actions. I doubt we get any product reviews on this one.

With SimWatcher, if someone steals your phone and attempts to remove or change the SIM card, you will be notified by SMS. It will SMS you at a pre-set number and notify the thief with a message that this phone belongs to someone else. One caveat, your phone is still stolen. When we legally reach the point where we can zap them with 10,000 volts, then they’ll have my attention.

A few secrets have leaked about the New Creative Zen Neeon. I hate the name, makes me think of the car - but spelled wrong. This is Creative’s secret iPod competitor. I wouldn’t want to battle the iPod if I was an MP3 player but, the Neeon comes in at 6GB and sports an integrated FM Tuner, digital voice recorder and it’s slimmer than Creative’s earlier contender the Zen Micro. Pricing and release date unknown, and our apologies for the muddy image.

Windows users have enjoyed the luxury of syncing content from their PC’s to their PSP Memory Sticks to enjoy it on the go, while Mac users have waited patiently for the same opportunity. PocketMac For PSP has arrived, and allows Mac users to do just that.

PocketMac For PSP is the first program to allow Mac users to sync their contacts, music and photos from their machine to their PSP. And it’s fully integrated with iSync as well!

One interesting note about the software - it includes a technology that allows you to put your contacts on the PSP, yet the PSP does not have any contact management built-in. Very cool. Grab it for $9.95 USD.

In an effort to make the PSP a symbol of iconic status, here comes the PS Pictogram Series X Porter bag and wallet line. While it is very cool that most of these products provide a safe environment for transporting your PSP without the fear of a dreaded scratched screen due to your car keys, it is just a bit odd seeing the PSP button layout used as an external design mark a la Louis Vuitton. The one that is most interesting to us is the PSP Case, which is actually a belt holster - stylin’. The price on items in this line? Ridiculous. For example, the above tote is 18900 Yen. That would be about $175 USD, also known as $75 less than a PSP.

Being huge Photoshop fans ourselves, we always get excited when we hear about updates to the software. Thusly, we were excited to read about some of the new features from the accidentally leaked press release. A few highlights from the leaked release:

Photoshop CS2 integrates a new set of intuitive tools, including an enhanced Spot Healing Brush, for handling common photographic problems such as blemishes, red-eye, noise, blurring and lens distortion. Smart Objects allow users to scale and transform images and vector illustrations without losing image quality — as well as create linked duplicates of embedded graphics — so that a single edit updates across multiple iterations.

Photoshop CS2 users will test the limits of creativity with new tools like Vanishing Point and Image Warping. Vanishing Point cuts tedious graphic and photo retouching tasks by allowing users to clone, paint and transform image objects while retaining visual perspective. Reinventing work flows such as product packaging development, Image Warping makes it easy to fold, stretch, pull, twist and wrap an image into shape by selecting an on-demand preset or dragging custom control points.